The Snow Has Arrived In Iowa….Making Running So Much More Fun!

  We knew it was inevitable.     The Snow Eventually is HAS to snow in winter here in Iowa.   Sometimes it is small and dusty…but not last night.   We woke up to nearly 6-8 inches of snow.   The Temp was not bad, but the snow was a mixture of sloppy slush near the ground and powdery sugar on the top.  We had plans to run the Kewash trail for  Cheryl’s Long run… .But we quickly changed out plans after seeing the drifts and crusty tops.   Cheryl even helped me push my bike, because I could not ride it in that type of snow.   Cheryl's running was not much better.   She felt like she was just shuffling along, barely able to even breath hard. 

So onward to Iowa City.    Unfortunately, they have not plowed the sidewalks, so the trails and our usual running areas were also off limits.   We saw that at least someone had pulled into the parking spot and we decided to join them.   Wouldn’t you know they also had a Subie!   A Tribeca of all things.   I think there are only three Tribecas in Iowa City.     We decided to see if we could handle this level of snow, just to see how it went.   I actually thought I could handle it with the bike decently.   I could see from the tracks that someone else also had a similar idea.   Cheryl, on the other hand,  did not find running in that deep of snow to be very enjoyable.   So,  at the moment,  it looks like we are going to be limited to a 2 mile stretch along the road that is maintained by the college.     If Cheryl wants to run any distance, we will be forced to double back several times until they extend the range of the shoveled sidewalks. 

After striking out twice on the run,  we headed for the book store and I simply had to add the awesome park job this guy took.  I guess he did not want  anyone scratching his doors. Nothing says good parking like taking up four slots with one vehicle.   Four!  Ah well,  you meet all kinds…

I guess last night’s snow caused a bit of a ruckus for some people.   We saw a number of cars and a huge truck in the ditch.   Looks like their weekend was going  be spent trying to figure out how to recover their vehicle.    As we drove behind a snowplow,  one of the “impatient” Iowans spun out in front of him while trying to pass.      Luckily, the plow was nice enough to stop before crushing this guy.     Still,  I can only imagine the look on that guys face as the huge blade of the plow stops within a few feet from his passenger side door…

So…Snow has put the chill on Cheryl’s running plans for the moment.   It was bound to happen, but we had hoped it would be a milder winter than last year.  There are only a couple of runs Cheryl has planned over the next couple of months, so I’m sure we will still find some place and time for a training run.

Hope everyone is driving carefully in the snow.    Slow down and Arrive alive…..It is a Cliché, but the Iowans in the ditch only prove the wisdom behind it.   They may be unharmed,  Except for their pocket book…..someone has to pay for that towing bill.